A Decubiti ulcer/pressure sore/bed sore is formed when a reduction in capillary blood flow within the human tissue results in pressure from weight or bone in a patient that is unable to change position over a prolonged period of time resulting in necrosis; ulceration and inability to self heal.
Decubiti ulcers are an extremely serious condition. The ulcer itself can cause the patient extreme discomfort. Furthermore, the other ulcer or ulcer itself can have significant medical complications because it can result in serious and irreversible tissue destruction. In addition, the open sore aspect of the ulcer and its direct exposure to bedding that itself may be soaked with urine, fecal matter, and other bodily fluids can easily result in secondary infections including developing strains of antibiotic resistance bacteria and virus forms. These complications can be very destructive and even fatal, especially in transplant patients with suppressed immune systems or other patients with suppressed immune systems.
Decubiti ulcers are extremely common. Any bedridden population, especially patients in hospitals, nursing homes, and homebound situations, have a very high likelihood of experiencing Decubiti ulcers, even under the best of circumstances. Patience in less then perfect environments are essentially guaranteed of suffering from this condition.
Medical management of Decubiti ulcers is very challenging. The standard of care for Decubiti ulcer is rotation of the patient every 2 hours, minimize shearing of the skin and minimize risk of infection, and very frequent changing of soiled bedding. Because the presence medical management of Decubiti ulcers is currently an entirely manual operation, imposing huge physical and time burdens on nursing staff, and because the constant changing of soiled bedding increases the laundry management load, the management of Decubiti ulcers places on an enormous burden on the facility in which the patient resides. In facilities and in situations where economic and staffing issues become significant, there is a very high likelihood that constantly maintaining the highest standard of care in connection with Decubiti ulcers can be impossible, as a practical matter.
These and other difficulties experienced with the prior art devices have been obviated in a novel manner by the present invention.
It is, therefore, an outstanding object of some embodiments of the present invention to provide a decubiti ulcer treatment system that achieves the highest possible level of medical effectiveness.
It is a further object of some embodiments of the invention to provide a decubiti ulcer treatment system that achieves the highest level of patient comfort.
It is a still further object of some embodiments of the invention to provide a decubiti ulcer treatment system that provides the facility and staff with the highest level of convenience, effectiveness, and efficiency.
With these and other objects in view, as will be apparent to those skilled in the art, the invention resides in the combination of parts set forth in the specification and covered by the claims appended hereto, it being understood that changes in the precise embodiment of the invention herein disclosed may be made within the scope of what is claimed without departing from the spirit of the invention.